Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it had canceled its decision to privatize the country’s main water desalination company, Saline Water Conversion Corp, and transfer both its direct and indirect assets to the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the government’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF).
The SWCC is based in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh and is currently the world’s biggest producer of desalinated water.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is one of the world’s biggest SWF with an estimated assets of approximately $620 billion.
ZAWYA had access to the official statement released by the Saudi Press Agency, which read “The cabinet decided to cancel a previous decision on the privatisation of the Corporation and to transfer all its direct and indirect assets to the PIF or any of its companies.”
The privatization of the SWCC had previously been approved in September 2019.
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli said that the decision will enhance the level of services, and add to sustainability as well as enable investments in the water sector, reports Arab News.
Recently, SWCC governor had spoken to Arab News and had revealed the company plans to open six desalination plants by 2024 in a phased manner. The first two facilities will be launched by the end of 2022.
In March, the country announced over 60 water projects worth SR35 billion (US$9.33 billion), with the intention to secure Saudi Arabia’s position as the world’s largest water desalination market. With the new projects, output would increase to over 14 million m3/day in 2025.
